The large amount of garbage spotted in the seas off Chumphon province by a trawler a week ago has drifted up to Prachuap Khiri Khan, about 100 kilometres from where it was first found, the Royal Thai Navy said on Thursday.

Noppadon Thintaeb and other trawler crew members saw the garbage, which was 10 kilometres long, about 40 nautical miles off Pathiu district of Chumphon last Thursday while catching fish.

Mr Noppadon took four photos before his phone’s battery ran out. When he returned to shore on Monday, he posted the photos on his Facebook page along with a message that read, “The Gulf of Thailand is filled up with garbage from sloppy people.”

The photos went viral and sparked calls from the public for authorities to quickly deal with the situation and investigate the origin of the massive trash pile. Mr Noppadon told local media later that most of the floating garbage was not very biodegradable, such as plastic bags. “I’ve never seen such a massive amount of garbage in the sea before,” he told Channel 7 on Tuesday.

Four days after the “sea of trash” photos were published online, a navy aircraft was sent from the 1st Naval Area Command-operated airport in Chumphon at the request of provincial authorities to conduct an aerial search of the sea off Chumphon and nearby areas to establish the coordinates of the floating garbage and plan the clean-up operation.

V-Adm Sursak Methayapa, commander of the 1st Naval Area Command, said the survey found the rubbish was now about eight nautical miles off Bang Saphan district, Prachuap Khiri Khan and only four nautical miles off Talu island. The island, locally known as Koh Talu, is a popular shallow diving spot in the Gulf of Thailand.

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May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!

Had disappeared by the time boats got to the Thursday evening location.....found again Friday afternoon 10km from old position. They apparently have a clean up plan hatched to start Saturday. They're say it's from all the flood/rain runoff over the past several weeks, and is primarily plastic. Pete

Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Source

I am a bit intrigued with what appears to be sticks standing up with small flags on the top.
................................................................................................................'Garbage island' will take 10 days to clear

PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN: The huge floating garbage island in the Gulf of Thailand is largely plastic waste and a threat to marine life, according to authorities who say it will take 10 days to clear.

The trash slick was located again by an aerial survey on Friday, 10 kilometres away from its position on Thursday. It is now drifting between Koh Talu in Bang Saphang Noi district and a headland of Ao Mae Ramphueng in Bang Saphan district. Koh Talu is a popular shallow-water dive site in Prachuap Khiri Khan province.

Authorities estimate the floating junk, which was first spotted earlier in the week off Chumphon province and has been drifting northward, weighs100 tonnes.

Winds have already scattered some of the trash and made collection a more difficult task, said Sopon Thongdee, deputy director-general of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources.
Officials expect to be working in the area for 10 days and will use speedboats and small fishing nets to collect the garbage, he said.

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May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!

It's been 10 days since the last article about this. That means to me clean up efforts have simply stopped and the junk is still floating, or has sunk. Any big piles arriving on Hua Hin and Cha Am beaches? Pete

Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Source

This is in reference to a NEW floating island of trash, not the one referenced when this thread was started. Short video at link. Pete

"A huge pile of garbage is being cleared from an island and at sea after it has been found floating in the Gulf of Thailand.

Volunteers of the Siam Marine Rehabilitation Foundation, resort workers on Koh Talu, local people and officials of Pa Klang Ao Forest Park have collected the trash washed up on the beaches in Bang Saphan Noi district of Prachuap Khiri Khan since Sunday.

Park officials and fishermen, meanwhile, have taken another pile from the sea back to the mainland.

"Most of them were taken away from the beaches," foundation secretary-general Phaopipat Charoenpak told the Bangkok Post on Tuesday.

"We continue to collect the rest and the situation is much better now," he added.".....

I find that an incredible headline to be supported by that video. I expected to see Thailand had employed a specialist vehicle to clear the sea.

After reports of a massive island of rubbish, 1 man being filmed picking up one piece of rubbish on a huge beach did not inspire me.

I spent a lot of time working at naval bases, and there they had little boats (looked a bit like Thunderbird 4) with a big basket on the front that could scoop rubbish out of the water. I was expecting to see something similar employed.